Law of unintended consequences now in effect worldwide

Add comment April 14th, 2008

Lately I’ve been becoming convinced that the law governing this world is the law of unintended consequences. In 2006 and into 2007 I was an enthusiast for ethanol and biodiesel fuel. I saw it as a way to wean the US for foreign oil and help farmers and the entire Ag-business chain make money.

I sure as heck didn’t figure that the result of planting all that corn and soybeans to put into cars instead of people, would be food riots. But that’s what happened.

Food costs are rising at alarming rates.The US and the EU are growing corn and soybeans for fuel instead of food. Meanwhile, the Chinese are becoming wealthy and can afford to eat meat. So even more corn is being used to feed to cattle for Chinese consumption. How big is their middle class? About 300 million, which is the same as the entire US population. And that’s not even one fourth of the Chinese population, let alone Tibet, which I wish China would do.

A UN commissioner told the European Union that ethanol is a crime against humanity. Of course the EU rejected that, because it is counting on ethanol as a way to meet emissions criteria under the international climate treaty to reduce greenhouse gases.

Read the story here from Yahoo News

One alternative might be wind energy. Of course, that kills birds, we’re told, and creates visual pollution. Nevertheless, Texas oilman T Boone Pickens is investing in wind farms in a big-as-Texas way. Check the story out from The Guardian: